You may have heard the phrase: If you want to make change, start locally. But how do impactful environmental missions actually take root in our own communities?

One compelling example can be found in the bustling capital of Ghana, Accra. There, two media professionals and conservationists have joined forces to protect their local waters, and to teach others how to do the same. George Amadou, a marine educator, conservationist, and underwater filmmaker, and David Selasi Kuwornu, a cinematographer and the organization’s communications and programs lead, are the founders of Coral Reefstoration Ghana, a non-governmental organization dedicated to expanding ocean access and protecting marine ecosystems.

In September of 2025, they launched The Dive Lab, Ghana’s first-ever diving and underwater media bootcamp designed specifically for marine biology undergraduates. The program represents a major step forward in hands-on marine education in the region.

Mission

Coral Reefstoration Ghana is a nonprofit organization focused on marine conservation, coral restoration, and expanding public access to the ocean. Their work centers on equipping ocean enthusiasts, scientists, and conservationists with both research skills and storytelling tools, believing that people are far more likely to protect what they understand and feel connected to.

In Ghana, ocean conservation still faces many challenges. Despite being a coastal nation, education around marine ecosystems is not very widespread at primary or secondary school levels. Many children grow up near the sea yet are taught to fear it, often hearing cultural stories that emphasize danger and risk.

“You know, growing up, one thing that we all noticed was our parents never allowed us to get close to the sea or to the ocean or to any water body at all. You know, because there’s this scare that we may drown…”George Amadou, Co-founder, Coral Reefstoration Ghana

As a result, misconceptions about the ocean persist into adulthood. Amadou and Selasi Kuwornu are working to change that narrative. Their goal is to reframe the ocean not as something to fear, but as something to explore, understand, and protect.

Origins of the Organization

Coral Reefstoration Ghana officially began just over two years ago with a simple but powerful goal: to help people feel more comfortable in the water. The team started by organizing swimming lessons for a wide range of participants, from schoolchildren to university students.

A turning point came when they attended the West African Marine Science Symposium, hosted by the University of Ghana. During the conference and through conversations with Professor Edem Mahu, they identified one of the region’s most significant barriers to marine conservation: lack of access. Across West Africa, only about one percent of students ever gain firsthand experience with the ocean. Most universities lack the funding, equipment, or infrastructure needed to take students into the field.

Seeing an opportunity, Amadou and Selasi Kuwornu expanded their efforts. Already certified divers with the necessary equipment, they began taking marine science students into the water, starting with Professor Mahu and her class.

“We decided on teaching them how to dive so that they could actually go down there, get to see the seabed, experience the marine life, and thereby appreciate marine conservation more.”George Amadou

Under the guidance of Coral Reefstoration Ghana, students are able to engage with their studies in three dimensions, transforming abstract concepts into lived experience and helping them become stronger researchers and storytellers. Through The Dive Lab, Coral Reefstoration Ghana hopes to empower West Africa’s future of science.

The Dive Lab

The Dive Lab is a six-day, hands-on program that teaches participants how to scuba dive and film underwater. The inaugural program received more than 50 applications, from which 10 students, mostly marine biology undergraduates, were selected.

By the end of the bootcamp, participants earn a diving certification, underwater research skills, underwater cinematography training, and media and storytelling experience.

The hope is that by experiencing marine ecosystems firsthand, students will develop a deeper connection to their work while gaining the tools to share their findings with both the scientific community and the broader public. If conservation efforts like this continue, Ghana may be able to guide us forward with news that contrasts the doom and gloom we are so accustomed to.

The State of Ghana’s Reefs

So, what is the current state of Ghana’s coral reefs?

According to Coral Reefstoration Ghana, the reefs are still relatively healthy, but highly vulnerable. Amadou and Selasi Kuwornu see this moment as critical: an opportunity to protect these ecosystems before irreversible damage occurs.

Some of the most pressing threats include destructive fishing practices and pollution. Bottom trawling, for example, involves dragging heavy nets across the seafloor, destroying reef structures and capturing far more marine life than intended. In other cases, fishing with explosives or harmful gear causes widespread damage and contamination.

In one recent project, Amadou used a 360-degree camera to document underwater damage and later presented the footage using a virtual reality headset. Showing coastal communities the direct consequences of human activity beneath the surface has proven to be a powerful tool for awareness and mindset change. Once people are able to get a visual understanding of what is happening in their environments, they are more likely to get involved.

Looking Ahead

Moving forward, Coral Reefstoration Ghana plans to expand its outreach through local media stations, with the goal of eventually reaching audiences across West Africa. They are also developing school programs, screenings, workshops, and virtual reality experiences to bring the ocean to those who may never have seen it firsthand.

“I believe that digital storytelling is actually what is going to bridge the gap between the wealth of knowledge that is to be acquired from the ocean and those out there who do not know about it. The digital storytelling tools are going to carry these live marine messages right on their wings to these people out there who do not know anything about it, who have very wrong perceptions about the ocean in the first place…”David Selasi Kuwornu, Co-founder, Coral Reefstoration Ghana

Longer-term, they hope to integrate marine science education into schools at an early age, starting with swimming programs for children that can eventually lead to diving and conservation training. With these programs they aim to empower young Ghanaians to become innovators and leaders in locally led ocean conservation.

Conservation does not always begin on a global scale. Often, it starts within a community, through access, education, and storytelling. Coral Reefstoration Ghana offers a powerful model for how these elements can come together to transform relationships with the ocean and inspire meaningful change.

To support their work, follow Coral Reefstoration Ghana on Instagram and YouTube at @CoralReefsGH, and help share their story with the world.

This article is courtesy of the Oceanography podcast from Pine Forest Media, the only independent podcast network in the world dedicated entirely to environmental science storytelling. Episodes are available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram: @pineforestmedia

Written by: Madelyn Choi Weir

About the Author

Madelyn Choi Weir is a New York-based freelance journalist, a producer with Pine Forest Media, and a public relations professional. Her work focuses on environmental storytelling and global travel. As an artist and polyglot, she seeks to amplify stories from around the world that have a story worth telling.

UNESCO will celebrate the World Day for Glaciers and the World Water Day at its
Headquarters in Paris on 18-19 March 2026, launching the new Decade of Action for
Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034) with dedicated sessions and side events including
five outlined in this article that highlight the vital links between cryosphere, water,
climate and social equity.
These days aim to drive forward Sustainable Development Goal 6 (water and sanitation
for all) and promote sustainable, equitable water management during the year America
is celebrating its 250th anniversary—or semiquincentennial.

Havre de Grace Maritime Museum – America at 250 Exhibition

The cryosphere, including glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost, sea ice and snow, stores
around 70% of Earth’s freshwater, yet it is shrinking fast. Glaciers are losing over 273
billion tonnes of ice annually, with significant acceleration in the last decade, severely
impacting global water security, infrastructure, and raising sea levels. Nearly 2–3 billion
people rely on seasonal melt for water, while rising seas threaten 1 billion people in
coastal areas. The cryosphere’s rapid, often irreversible, collapse disrupts ecosystems,
triggers disasters, and accelerates global warming.
The “Glacier Flag” a side event for World Day for Glaciers in Paris created by award
winning artists Alfons Rodriguez and Fatma Kadir that is on exhibit at the America at
250 Art Show hosted by the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum from January 31 too
July 5 th , 2026. It draws attention to strengthening research, monitoring, education and
policy action on cryospheric change.
Sofia Fonseca, the founder of Teiduma explained “This art show is a collective
exhibition, connecting USA’s maritime heritage, environmental consciousness, and
artistic interpretation of flags and landmarked lighthouses in a powerful celebration of
250 years of American history.
The exhibition brings together the work of Alfons Rodríguez alongside an international
group of artists and colleagues: Semine Hazar, Ian Hutton, Fatma Kadir, Maria
Krasnopolsky, Selva Ozelli, Ilhan Sayin, and Mary Tiegree.
The exhibition offers a reflective and visually compelling dialogue on USA’s history,
identity, landscape, and shared futures at this significant milestone.
Alfons Rodríguez‘s contribution, including works from The Melting Age series, situates
environmental awareness on melting glaciers within broader historical and cultural
narratives—reminding us that national anniversaries are also moments to reflect on
responsibility, resilience, and continuity.”

America at 250 at Havre de Grace Maritime Museum

Concord Point Lighthouse  by Semine Hazar the second-oldest lighthouse in MD which is located across the street from Havre de Grace Maritime Museum
America at 250 is also host to “Lighthouses” by Semine Hazar and the “Paradise Flag“
by Ian Hutton and Selva Ozelli which are side events for World Water Day in Paris
drawing attention to sustainable water management including groundwater and
freshwater flows.
The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum and its integrated Environmental Center serve
as a hub for both maritime heritage and regional water sustainability efforts. Located at
the confluence of the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay, the museum
actively promotes environmental stewardship through art exhibitions, citizen science,
habitat restoration, and water quality monitoring.  A meet the artists event will be hosted
by the museum on April 25 th .

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (LDEO) – Where
Science Meets Art

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is a world-renowned research
institution at Columbia University, founded in 1949 to study Earth’s natural systems.
LDEO scientists were among the first to map the seafloor, provide proof for the theory of
plate tectonics, continental drift, and develop a computer model that predicted El Niño
events. LDEO’s research covers everything from formation of the Earth, moon, and
solar system, as well as the movement of carbon and other materials through the Earth
System, including its atmosphere, oceans, and land, using different types of Earth
materials from sediments to cave deposits to tree rings to identify past climate shifts and
changes.
On March 25 th in celebration of World Glaciers and Water Days LDEO’s Interim
Director; Higgins Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Columbia University Dr. Steven L. Goldstein  is hosting a public lecture series event
titled:

“Climate and Ice: From Rising Seas to Shrinking Mountain Glaciers”

Professor Joerg M. Schaefer LDEO Geochemistry, Department of Earth and
Environmental Sciences & Columbia Climate School, Columbia University will explore
how fast ice is melting, where it is changing most rapidly, and how we can respond to
these challenges with LDEOs cutting-edge research including Greenland
Rising/Kalaallit Nunaat qaffappoq, a recent National Science Foundation–funded
collaborative project of LDEO, the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR),
and local Greenland communities that is vital for understanding these shifts and how
applying this science today can help build a safer, more sustainable future.

Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Place: Monell Building, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964
[REGISTER HERE]
Phone: (212)853-8861
Email: events@ldeo.columbia.edu

LDEO is also hosting the “Paradise” art show by Ian Hutton and Selva Ozelli and the
“Ocean Lovers – To the Core Flag CCL” by Selva Ozelli that are a side events for World
Water Day in Paris. The Ocean Lovers – To the Core Flag CCL is designed based on
core research by LDEO scientists as follows:

1. Dr. Dorothy Peteet is a prominent Senior Research Scientist at
   the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies and an Adjunct Professor
   at Columbia University who specializes in the paleoecology of wetlands and
   lakes. She directs the New Core Lab at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,
   where she utilizes sediment cores to reconstruct past climates and study modern
   carbon sequestration; and
2. Drs  William Ryan, Walter Pitman, Petko Dimitrov, and their colleagues who first
   proposed that a catastrophic inflow of Mediterranean seawater into the Black
   Sea freshwater lake occurred around 7,600 years ago, c. 5600 BCE with, rising
   Mediterranean waters breaching the Bosphorus strait, catastrophically flooding a
   freshwater lake and creating the modern, salty Black Sea potentially influencing
   ancient flood myths. Drs Ryan and Pitman cited submerged shorelines,
   preserved dunes, and marine fossils found in deep core samples. While the event
   is recognized, the speed and magnitude of the flood are still debated.

Ocean Lovers – To the Core Flag by Selva Ozelli for LDEO

National Lighthouse Museum (NLM)

The National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island, NY, preserves maritime history at
the former U.S. Lighthouse Service General Depot. It focuses on sustainability through
educating the public on eroding shorelines and “super storms”. The museum promotes
coastal resilience and supports initiatives like the Waterfront Alliance  and the Living
Breakwaters project to protect coastal communities.

Aligning with broader goals of World Water Day, on March 4, 2026, NLM will participate
in the Waterfront Alliance  City of Water Day kick-off info session (1–2 PM ET) to
discuss this year’s theme centered on expanding the capacity of New York and New
Jersey communities to promote green infrastructure, water quality, and habitat
restoration for resilient, accessible waterfronts that support better water quality for
marine life.

This initiative and NLM’s harbor initiatives such as the March 29, tour of the New York
harbor with Author of over 100 books Bill Miller – Mr. Ocean Liner emphasize protecting
vital coastal and freshwater ecosystems through sustainable practices, fostering climate
resilience, and engaging in community-driven environmental solutions.

NLM is also hosting a meet the artist event titled Lighthouses are for [Ocean] Lovers
and Friends High Tea on March 14 th for the Ocean Lovers – Angel Fish Flag by Selva
Ozelli that is a side event for World Water Day in Paris drawing attention to sustainable
water management.

Ocean Lovers – Angel Fish Flag CCL by Selva Ozelli for NLM

The America at 250 exhibition along with the Flag CCL series of Selva Ozelli has been
endorsed by Freedom 250 which is a national initiative launched by President Donald
Trump to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence on
July 4, 2026. It is a public-private partnership aimed at honoring U.S. history, preserving
historic sites, fostering patriotism, and highlighting innovation.

World Water Day Flag CCL Series

Written by: Selva Ozelli

The shipping industry has spent years debating how to cut emissions without overhauling entire fleets or waiting for next-generation fuels that remain decades from commercial viability. A white paper released March 2, 2026, by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) in collaboration with Montreal-based AI company Whale Seeker and True North Marine suggests the answer may already be hiding inside every vessel’s bridge controls: the throttle.

The paper, titled Navigating with Nature: How Smarter Ship Routing Delivers Emissions Cuts and Biodiversity Gains, models a transatlantic route from Montréal, Canada, to Le Havre, France, and integrates ecological sensitivity layers, habitat vulnerability indices, and speed optimization algorithms into the voyage planning process. The results, based on a single route simulation, are striking: modest speed adjustments along the transit could avoid approximately 198 tonnes of CO₂, cut underwater radiated noise exposure by more than 50%, and reduce the risk of a fatal whale strike by up to 86%. The optimized route also yielded fuel savings of 61.7 metric tonnes per crossing.

Those numbers deserve context. A single transatlantic voyage producing nearly 200 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide is not a rounding error. Multiplied across the thousands of commercial transits that cross the North Atlantic each year, the cumulative reduction potential is enormous, and it requires no new vessel construction, no experimental fuels, and no regulatory overhaul. It requires information and willingness.

The white paper builds on a growing body of research showing that the relationship between vessel speed and whale mortality is not linear; it is exponential. Studies published in Scientific Reports and cited by NOAA Fisheries have consistently demonstrated that the probability of a fatal collision increases dramatically above 10 knots. For the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, which numbers roughly 380 individuals and is the subject of an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event declared in 2017, vessel strikes remain one of the two leading causes of death alongside fishing gear entanglement. NOAA data shows that 42 right whales have died and 40 have been seriously injured since 2017, with the vast majority of those casualties traced to human interaction.

What the IMarEST paper adds to this picture is an economic case. The conventional framing positions whale protection and commercial efficiency as competing interests: slow your ship to save whales, and you lose time and money. The Navigating with Nature model flips that assumption. By integrating real-time ecological data into route planning, the optimized voyage actually saves fuel. The speed adjustments are not uniform reductions across the entire crossing; they are strategic, applied in areas of high ecological sensitivity where whale density, calving grounds, or migratory corridors overlap with the shipping lane. In lower-risk stretches, the vessel can maintain or even increase speed to compensate, keeping overall transit time within commercially acceptable margins.

“What this case study shows is that smarter speed choices could cut costs and emissions now, while also reducing underwater noise and pressure on ocean biodiversity,” said Emily Charry Tissier, CEO and co-founder of Whale Seeker. Charry Tissier, a biologist with two decades of experience in coastal and Arctic ecosystems, founded the company in 2018 to use AI and aerial detection for marine mammal monitoring. Whale Seeker’s technology has since been deployed with Transport Canada to detect right whales in real time in the St. Lawrence corridor.

The underwater noise dimension is worth pausing on. Chronic noise pollution from shipping is one of the least visible but most pervasive threats to marine mammals. Whales and dolphins rely on sound for communication, navigation, and foraging. Elevated background noise from vessel traffic can mask their vocalizations, disrupt feeding behavior, increase stress hormone levels, and in extreme cases cause physical injury. The International Maritime Organization has recognized underwater noise as a significant environmental concern, but regulatory action remains voluntary and unevenly implemented. A 50% reduction in noise exposure through route and speed optimization, as the white paper models, would represent a meaningful improvement for cetacean populations along one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.

Alasdair Wishart, IMarEST’s technical and policy director, framed the paper in regulatory terms. “This white paper illustrates how the landscape could look for vessel owners and operators should there be further legislation to protect marine mammals,” he said. The subtext is clear: the shipping industry can either adopt these practices voluntarily and capture the fuel savings, or wait for governments to mandate them and lose the first-mover advantage.

The paper was endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and produced through IMarEST’s Marine Mammal Special Interest Group, a technical body composed of experts from academia, industry, policy, and government. Strategic framing was supported by Fürstenberg Maritime Advisory.

It is worth noting what the paper does not claim. This is a case study based on a single simulated route, not a fleet-wide operational trial. Real-world implementation would face challenges including schedule pressures, port congestion, contractual obligations, and variable weather. The authors position the work as a starting point for integrating biodiversity intelligence into routing decisions, not a finished policy prescription.

Still, the fundamental insight is hard to argue with. In an industry under intense pressure to decarbonize, the notion that protecting marine life and reducing fuel costs can be pursued simultaneously, rather than traded against each other, is a compelling proposition. The ocean’s largest animals and the industry’s bottom line, it turns out, may have more aligned interests than decades of regulatory debate have assumed.

Source: IMarEST, Whale Seeker, True North Marine | Published March 2, 2026
White paper: Navigating with Nature: How Smarter Ship Routing Delivers Emissions Cuts and Biodiversity Gains | Available at imarest.org

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We promote the scientific development of marine engineering, science and technology, providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas and practices and upholding the status, standards and knowledge of marine professionals worldwide.